Coming Soon	The pieces on this page are in the publication process, and will appear on the "Newly In Print" page as soon as they are printed. Sound Clips. Where this icon appears next to a piece, click on it to hear a short sound clip of that piece. Clips are MP3 format, and can be heard in many players, including Microsoft Media Player. If you don't have it, get it free here.
Flamenco dancer Cory Carile joins the wonderful Hamilton Children's Choir in Überlebensgross, directed by Zimfira Poloz.
Beginner's Alphabet SSA and piano, optional bass and drums, optional string quartet Savridi	"A" is for the Amniotic womb of the sea. "B" is for the Baby the whole planet used to be. Since the Savridi Singers of Calgary, Alberta, had asked me for a piece on the theme of children and hope, it seemed appropriate to write an alphabet whose key words included Children, Hope and Voices, although there are many other thematic diversions that arise as the letters progress: "E" is for the Elements to which we return. "F" is the Fossils that we resurrect and burn. The piece is both gentle and driving, a perpetual motion chant with a steady-ticking piano part, and a style somewhere between a folk-blues, a nursery rhyme, and the Dixie Cups. "Beginner’s Alphabet" can work with just piano, or you can add bass and drums to the piano, or add a string quartet to all three. The vocal parts are not technically demanding, although to keep that crisp, buoyant, rhythmic style going for the whole piece carries its own demands on a singer’s stamina and musical intelligence. I hope to have a recording to post before long. The soundfile is an excellent model for the diction, which is crystal clear without sounding formal, and for the overall styling and phrasing. In this live performance the drums are a little too forward in the mix; for all that the drums are obviously summoning up the spirit of an old-time rock beat, I still want them to float and glide under the voices like a hovercraft. top
Members of the Hamilton Children’s Choir rehearse the handbells for 'Creation'. (You actually need five bell-ringers for the piece -- we had one down with the flu during this rehearsal.) For shots of the whole choir at work on the piece, see the bottom of the compositions page for Mixed Voices, SAB.
Creation SSAA and handbells (additional parts for "guests" and audience) Songbridge Premiere  Hamilton (with organ) Days 3, 4 and 5	Written for Songbridge 2008 for the Hamilton Children's Choir and given a double premiere in Poland and Germany, "Creation" uses handbells and treble voices to create a dialogue between eternal and mortal voices. The Hamilton Children's Choir, led by Zimfira Poloz, drew the bellringers from their own ranks and had the ringers sing as well - a beautiful effect, if you are able to do likewise. The piece, inspired by the creation as it appears in Genesis, is in seven short movements that parallel the seven days. Each day ends with a short prayer of thanksgiving in which the audience joins. As with all Songbridge pieces there is a simple part for a "guest" choir, as well as for the audience. The accompanying soundfile marked "with organ" shows one possible way to help support the audience and the "guest" choir, by having the organ double their parts. The piece combines atonal and tonal writing, with much flexibility in terms of how the piece is mounted. The Hamilton Children's Choir used movement and blocking to turn their presentation into a masque, with the guest singers standing above and around them on the choral risers, but the piece also works without choreography. If you are using your own musicians on the bells, you will save a lot of time and trouble and pick up a lot of valuable insider techniques if you get an experienced player to do some coaching. Although listed as SSAA the choir spends much of its time in unison to three part texture, as well as some atonal sections where every singer acts as an individual voice. top
Ripple Effect SSAA and piano Amabile	"Dip your fingers in the water and the rings will spread. And they spread to who knows how far away? To beyond what you see, beyond what you hear, Like the voice of the candle when you pray." "Ripple Effect" was written in honour of the 25th anniversary of the Amabile Youth Singers, the choir with whom I’ve collaborated on so many pieces. This is one of my dreamy, creamy pieces, where the text's theme of ripples sent through water and air is reinforced by musical allusions to the chord progression of Donovan's water song "Atlantis" and the D flat tonality and rising thirds of Debussy’s airy "Clair de Lune". The goal is a gentle luminosity, a pearly fog or a cool river full of blue and silver sparkles. (A very helpful comment, I'm sure.) "Ripple Effect" refers to the spreading influence of trailblazers like Amabile, as well as the importance of choral music in the search for a transcendence beyond words. Fairly advanced, but well within the reach of a good high school ensemble. The soundfile gives most of the piece from a live performance. It's a "raw footage" recording which gives the voices something of a hard sound, and doesn't properly show the lush and dreamy timbre of the choir. top
A photo session with the stars of Ann & Séamus: Andrew Dale, Kathleen Allan, and on the far right Alison Nicholas. Photos by Chris Nicholas.